Public science: Media configuration and closure in the cold fusion controversy

Public Understanding of Science

Volumn 10, Issue 4, 2001, Pages 383-402

  Simon, Bart ^a  

^a Dept of Electrical and Computer Engineering   (Canada)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0042140673     PISSN: 09636625     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1088/0963-6625/10/4/303     Document Type: Article

References (99)

1. Jane Gregory and Steve Miller, Science in Public: Communication, Culture, and Credibility (New York: Plenum Trade, 1998); Terry Shinn and Richard Whitley, eds. Expository Science: Forms and Functions of Popularisation, Vol. IX, Sociology of the Sciences Yearbook (Dordrecht: D. Reidel, 1985).
2. Jane Gregory and Steve Miller, Science in Public: Communication, Culture, and Credibility (New York: Plenum Trade, 1998); Terry Shinn and Richard Whitley, eds. Expository Science: Forms and Functions of Popularisation, Vol. IX, Sociology of the Sciences Yearbook (Dordrecht: D. Reidel, 1985).
3. Christopher Dornan, "Some problems in conceptualizing the issue of "science and the media"," Critical Studies in Mass Communications 7 (1990): 48-71; Richard Whitley, "Knowledge producers and knowledge acquirers: popularization as a relation between scientific fields and their publics," in Shinn and Whitley, Expository Science, 3-30.
4. Christopher Dornan, "Some problems in conceptualizing the issue of "science and the media"," Critical Studies in Mass Communications 7 (1990): 48-71; Richard Whitley, "Knowledge producers and knowledge acquirers: popularization as a relation between scientific fields and their publics," in Shinn and Whitley, Expository Science, 3-30.
5. Stephen Hilgartner, "The dominant view of popularization: conceptual problems, political uses," Social Studies of Science 20 (1990): 519-539; Alan Irwin and Brian Wynne, eds. Misunderstanding Science (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996).
6. Stephen Hilgartner, "The dominant view of popularization: conceptual problems, political uses," Social Studies of Science 20 (1990): 519-539; Alan Irwin and Brian Wynne, eds. Misunderstanding Science (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996).
7. Joske Bunders and Richard Whitley, "Popularization within the sciences: the purposes and consequences of inter-specialist communication," in Shinn and Whitley, Expository Science, 61-78; Massimiano Bucchi, Science and the Media: Alternative Routes in Science Communication (London: Routledge, 1998); Bruce Lewenstein, "From fax to facts: Communication in the cold fusion saga," Social Studies of Science 25 (1995): 403-436.
8. Joske Bunders and Richard Whitley, "Popularization within the sciences: the purposes and consequences of inter-specialist communication," in Shinn and Whitley, Expository Science, 61-78; Massimiano Bucchi, Science and the Media: Alternative Routes in Science Communication (London: Routledge, 1998); Bruce Lewenstein, "From fax to facts: Communication in the cold fusion saga," Social Studies of Science 25 (1995): 403-436.
9. Joske Bunders and Richard Whitley, "Popularization within the sciences: the purposes and consequences of inter-specialist communication," in Shinn and Whitley, Expository Science, 61-78; Massimiano Bucchi, Science and the Media: Alternative Routes in Science Communication (London: Routledge, 1998); Bruce Lewenstein, "From fax to facts: Communication in the cold fusion saga," Social Studies of Science 25 (1995): 403-436.
10. Massimiano Bucchi, "When scientists turn to the public: Alternative routes in science communication," Public Understanding of Science 5 (1996): 375-394.
11. Michel Callon, John Law, and Arie Rip, eds. Mapping the Dynamics of Science and Technology: Sociology of Science in the Real World (London: Macmillan, 1986).
12. H. M. Collins, "The seven sexes: A study in the sociology of a phenomenon, or the replication of an experiment in physics," Sociology 9 (1975): 205-224; H. M. Collins, "Son of seven sexes: The social destruction of a physical phenomenon," Social Studies of Science 11 (1981): 33-62.
13. H. M. Collins, "The seven sexes: A study in the sociology of a phenomenon, or the replication of an experiment in physics," Sociology 9 (1975): 205-224; H. M. Collins, "Son of seven sexes: The social destruction of a physical phenomenon," Social Studies of Science 11 (1981): 33-62.
14. Following from this mass media representations can be seen as a kind of literary technology in the sense described by Steven Shapin, "Pump and circumstance: Robert Boyle's literary technology," Social Studies of Science 14 (1984): 481-520.
15. See for instance Thomas Gieryn, "The ballad of Pons and Fleischmann: Experiment and narrative in the (un)making of cold fusion," in The Social Dimensions of Science, ed. E. McMullin (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1992), 272-294; Bruce Lewenstein, "Cold fusion and hot history," Osiris 7 (1992): 135-163; James McAllister, "Competition among scientific disciplines in cold nuclear fusion research," Science in Context 5 (1992): 17-50; Trevor Pinch, "Cold fusion and the sociology of scientific knowledge," Technical Communication Quarterly 3 (1994): 85-102; Alan Gross, "Renewing neo-aristotelian theory: The cold fusion controversy as a test case," The Quarterly Journal of Speech 81, no. 1 (1995): 48-62; Christopher Toumey, "Conjuring science in the case of cold fusion," Public Understanding of Science 5 (1996): 121-133; Bart Simon, "Undead science: Making sense of cold fusion after the (arti)fact," Social Studies of Science 29 (1999): 61-85.
16. See for instance Thomas Gieryn, "The ballad of Pons and Fleischmann: Experiment and narrative in the (un)making of cold fusion," in The Social Dimensions of Science, ed. E. McMullin (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1992), 272-294; Bruce Lewenstein, "Cold fusion and hot history," Osiris 7 (1992): 135-163; James McAllister, "Competition among scientific disciplines in cold nuclear fusion research," Science in Context 5 (1992): 17-50; Trevor Pinch, "Cold fusion and the sociology of scientific knowledge," Technical Communication Quarterly 3 (1994): 85-102; Alan Gross, "Renewing neo-aristotelian theory: The cold fusion controversy as a test case," The Quarterly Journal of Speech 81, no. 1 (1995): 48-62; Christopher Toumey, "Conjuring science in the case of cold fusion," Public Understanding of Science 5 (1996): 121-133; Bart Simon, "Undead science: Making sense of cold fusion after the (arti)fact," Social Studies of Science 29 (1999): 61-85.
17. See for instance Thomas Gieryn, "The ballad of Pons and Fleischmann: Experiment and narrative in the (un)making of cold fusion," in The Social Dimensions of Science, ed. E. McMullin (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1992), 272-294; Bruce Lewenstein, "Cold fusion and hot history," Osiris 7 (1992): 135-163; James McAllister, "Competition among scientific disciplines in cold nuclear fusion research," Science in Context 5 (1992): 17-50; Trevor Pinch, "Cold fusion and the sociology of scientific knowledge," Technical Communication Quarterly 3 (1994): 85-102; Alan Gross, "Renewing neo-aristotelian theory: The cold fusion controversy as a test case," The Quarterly Journal of Speech 81, no. 1 (1995): 48-62; Christopher Toumey, "Conjuring science in the case of cold fusion," Public Understanding of Science 5 (1996): 121-133; Bart Simon, "Undead science: Making sense of cold fusion after the (arti)fact," Social Studies of Science 29 (1999): 61-85.
18. See for instance Thomas Gieryn, "The ballad of Pons and Fleischmann: Experiment and narrative in the (un)making of cold fusion," in The Social Dimensions of Science, ed. E. McMullin (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1992), 272-294; Bruce Lewenstein, "Cold fusion and hot history," Osiris 7 (1992): 135-163; James McAllister, "Competition among scientific disciplines in cold nuclear fusion research," Science in Context 5 (1992): 17-50; Trevor Pinch, "Cold fusion and the sociology of scientific knowledge," Technical Communication Quarterly 3 (1994): 85-102; Alan Gross, "Renewing neo-aristotelian theory: The cold fusion controversy as a test case," The Quarterly Journal of Speech 81, no. 1 (1995): 48-62; Christopher Toumey, "Conjuring science in the case of cold fusion," Public Understanding of Science 5 (1996): 121-133; Bart Simon, "Undead science: Making sense of cold fusion after the (arti)fact," Social Studies of Science 29 (1999): 61-85.
19. See for instance Thomas Gieryn, "The ballad of Pons and Fleischmann: Experiment and narrative in the (un)making of cold fusion," in The Social Dimensions of Science, ed. E. McMullin (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1992), 272-294; Bruce Lewenstein, "Cold fusion and hot history," Osiris 7 (1992): 135-163; James McAllister, "Competition among scientific disciplines in cold nuclear fusion research," Science in Context 5 (1992): 17-50; Trevor Pinch, "Cold fusion and the sociology of scientific knowledge," Technical Communication Quarterly 3 (1994): 85-102; Alan Gross, "Renewing neo-aristotelian theory: The cold fusion controversy as a test case," The Quarterly Journal of Speech 81, no. 1 (1995): 48-62; Christopher Toumey, "Conjuring science in the case of cold fusion," Public Understanding of Science 5 (1996): 121-133; Bart Simon, "Undead science: Making sense of cold fusion after the (arti)fact," Social Studies of Science 29 (1999): 61-85.
20. See for instance Thomas Gieryn, "The ballad of Pons and Fleischmann: Experiment and narrative in the (un)making of cold fusion," in The Social Dimensions of Science, ed. E. McMullin (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1992), 272-294; Bruce Lewenstein, "Cold fusion and hot history," Osiris 7 (1992): 135-163; James McAllister, "Competition among scientific disciplines in cold nuclear fusion research," Science in Context 5 (1992): 17-50; Trevor Pinch, "Cold fusion and the sociology of scientific knowledge," Technical Communication Quarterly 3 (1994): 85-102; Alan Gross, "Renewing neo-aristotelian theory: The cold fusion controversy as a test case," The Quarterly Journal of Speech 81, no. 1 (1995): 48-62; Christopher Toumey, "Conjuring science in the case of cold fusion," Public Understanding of Science 5 (1996): 121-133; Bart Simon, "Undead science: Making sense of cold fusion after the (arti)fact," Social Studies of Science 29 (1999): 61-85.
21. See for instance Thomas Gieryn, "The ballad of Pons and Fleischmann: Experiment and narrative in the (un)making of cold fusion," in The Social Dimensions of Science, ed. E. McMullin (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1992), 272-294; Bruce Lewenstein, "Cold fusion and hot history," Osiris 7 (1992): 135-163; James McAllister, "Competition among scientific disciplines in cold nuclear fusion research," Science in Context 5 (1992): 17-50; Trevor Pinch, "Cold fusion and the sociology of scientific knowledge," Technical Communication Quarterly 3 (1994): 85-102; Alan Gross, "Renewing neo-aristotelian theory: The cold fusion controversy as a test case," The Quarterly Journal of Speech 81, no. 1 (1995): 48-62; Christopher Toumey, "Conjuring science in the case of cold fusion," Public Understanding of Science 5 (1996): 121-133; Bart Simon, "Undead science: Making sense of cold fusion after the (arti)fact," Social Studies of Science 29 (1999): 61-85.
22. See Frank Close, Too Hot to Handle: The Story of the Race for Cold Fusion (London: W. H. Allen Publishing, 1990); John Huizenga, Cold Fusion: The Scientific Fiasco of the Century (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992); Gene Mallove, Fire from Ice: Searching for the Truth behind the Cold Fusion Furor (New York: Wiley, 1991); Gary Taubes, Bad Science: The Short Life and Wierd Times of Cold Fusion (New York: Random House, 1993); Hal Fox, Cold Fusion Impact in the Enhanced Energy Age (Salt Lake City: Fusion Information Center, 1992). For a more technical account see Nate Hoffman, A Dialogue on Chemically Induced Nuclear Effects: A Guide for the Perplexed about Cold Fusion (La Grange Park, IL: American Nuclear Society, 1995); Tadahiko Mizuno, Nuclear Transmutation: The Reality of Cold Fusion, trans. Jed Rothwell (Concord, NH: Infinite Energy Press, 1998).
23. See Frank Close, Too Hot to Handle: The Story of the Race for Cold Fusion (London: W. H. Allen Publishing, 1990); John Huizenga, Cold Fusion: The Scientific Fiasco of the Century (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992); Gene Mallove, Fire from Ice: Searching for the Truth behind the Cold Fusion Furor (New York: Wiley, 1991); Gary Taubes, Bad Science: The Short Life and Wierd Times of Cold Fusion (New York: Random House, 1993); Hal Fox, Cold Fusion Impact in the Enhanced Energy Age (Salt Lake City: Fusion Information Center, 1992). For a more technical account see Nate Hoffman, A Dialogue on Chemically Induced Nuclear Effects: A Guide for the Perplexed about Cold Fusion (La Grange Park, IL: American Nuclear Society, 1995); Tadahiko Mizuno, Nuclear Transmutation: The Reality of Cold Fusion, trans. Jed Rothwell (Concord, NH: Infinite Energy Press, 1998).
24. See Frank Close, Too Hot to Handle: The Story of the Race for Cold Fusion (London: W. H. Allen Publishing, 1990); John Huizenga, Cold Fusion: The Scientific Fiasco of the Century (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992); Gene Mallove, Fire from Ice: Searching for the Truth behind the Cold Fusion Furor (New York: Wiley, 1991); Gary Taubes, Bad Science: The Short Life and Wierd Times of Cold Fusion (New York: Random House, 1993); Hal Fox, Cold Fusion Impact in the Enhanced Energy Age (Salt Lake City: Fusion Information Center, 1992). For a more technical account see Nate Hoffman, A Dialogue on Chemically Induced Nuclear Effects: A Guide for the Perplexed about Cold Fusion (La Grange Park, IL: American Nuclear Society, 1995); Tadahiko Mizuno, Nuclear Transmutation: The Reality of Cold Fusion, trans. Jed Rothwell (Concord, NH: Infinite Energy Press, 1998).
25. See Frank Close, Too Hot to Handle: The Story of the Race for Cold Fusion (London: W. H. Allen Publishing, 1990); John Huizenga, Cold Fusion: The Scientific Fiasco of the Century (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992); Gene Mallove, Fire from Ice: Searching for the Truth behind the Cold Fusion Furor (New York: Wiley, 1991); Gary Taubes, Bad Science: The Short Life and Wierd Times of Cold Fusion (New York: Random House, 1993); Hal Fox, Cold Fusion Impact in the Enhanced Energy Age (Salt Lake City: Fusion Information Center, 1992). For a more technical account see Nate Hoffman, A Dialogue on Chemically Induced Nuclear Effects: A Guide for the Perplexed about Cold Fusion (La Grange Park, IL: American Nuclear Society, 1995); Tadahiko Mizuno, Nuclear Transmutation: The Reality of Cold Fusion, trans. Jed Rothwell (Concord, NH: Infinite Energy Press, 1998).
26. See Frank Close, Too Hot to Handle: The Story of the Race for Cold Fusion (London: W. H. Allen Publishing, 1990); John Huizenga, Cold Fusion: The Scientific Fiasco of the Century (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992); Gene Mallove, Fire from Ice: Searching for the Truth behind the Cold Fusion Furor (New York: Wiley, 1991); Gary Taubes, Bad Science: The Short Life and Wierd Times of Cold Fusion (New York: Random House, 1993); Hal Fox, Cold Fusion Impact in the Enhanced Energy Age (Salt Lake City: Fusion Information Center, 1992). For a more technical account see Nate Hoffman, A Dialogue on Chemically Induced Nuclear Effects: A Guide for the Perplexed about Cold Fusion (La Grange Park, IL: American Nuclear Society, 1995); Tadahiko Mizuno, Nuclear Transmutation: The Reality of Cold Fusion, trans. Jed Rothwell (Concord, NH: Infinite Energy Press, 1998).
27. See Frank Close, Too Hot to Handle: The Story of the Race for Cold Fusion (London: W. H. Allen Publishing, 1990); John Huizenga, Cold Fusion: The Scientific Fiasco of the Century (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992); Gene Mallove, Fire from Ice: Searching for the Truth behind the Cold Fusion Furor (New York: Wiley, 1991); Gary Taubes, Bad Science: The Short Life and Wierd Times of Cold Fusion (New York: Random House, 1993); Hal Fox, Cold Fusion Impact in the Enhanced Energy Age (Salt Lake City: Fusion Information Center, 1992). For a more technical account see Nate Hoffman, A Dialogue on Chemically Induced Nuclear Effects: A Guide for the Perplexed about Cold Fusion (La Grange Park, IL: American Nuclear Society, 1995); Tadahiko Mizuno, Nuclear Transmutation: The Reality of Cold Fusion, trans. Jed Rothwell (Concord, NH: Infinite Energy Press, 1998).
28. See Frank Close, Too Hot to Handle: The Story of the Race for Cold Fusion (London: W. H. Allen Publishing, 1990); John Huizenga, Cold Fusion: The Scientific Fiasco of the Century (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992); Gene Mallove, Fire from Ice: Searching for the Truth behind the Cold Fusion Furor (New York: Wiley, 1991); Gary Taubes, Bad Science: The Short Life and Wierd Times of Cold Fusion (New York: Random House, 1993); Hal Fox, Cold Fusion Impact in the Enhanced Energy Age (Salt Lake City: Fusion Information Center, 1992). For a more technical account see Nate Hoffman, A Dialogue on Chemically Induced Nuclear Effects: A Guide for the Perplexed about Cold Fusion (La Grange Park, IL: American Nuclear Society, 1995); Tadahiko Mizuno, Nuclear Transmutation: The Reality of Cold Fusion, trans. Jed Rothwell (Concord, NH: Infinite Energy Press, 1998).
29. The exact scope of the replication effort is difficult to gauge, but by way of anecdotal evidence nearly every scientist with whom I have spoken in the last 10 years has known of some colleague who at least attempted a cold fusion experiment.
30. See DOE/ERAB Final Report, November 1989, Cold Fusion Research (Washington, D.C.: Department of Energy/Energy Research Advisory Board/S-0073).
31. For a discussion of post-closure cold fusion research see Bart Simon, "Post-closure cold fusion and the survival of a research community," PhD dissertation (La Jolla: UCSD, 1999); Edmund Storms, "A critical review of the 'cold fusion, effect," Journal of Scientific Exploration 10, no. 2 (1996): 185-243; Charles Platt, "What if cold fusion is real?," Wired Magazine, 6.11 (1998): 170-179 and 222-230.
32. For a discussion of post-closure cold fusion research see Bart Simon, "Post-closure cold fusion and the survival of a research community," PhD dissertation (La Jolla: UCSD, 1999); Edmund Storms, "A critical review of the 'cold fusion, effect," Journal of Scientific Exploration 10, no. 2 (1996): 185-243; Charles Platt, "What if cold fusion is real?," Wired Magazine, 6.11 (1998): 170-179 and 222-230.
33. For a discussion of post-closure cold fusion research see Bart Simon, "Post-closure cold fusion and the survival of a research community," PhD dissertation (La Jolla: UCSD, 1999); Edmund Storms, "A critical review of the 'cold fusion, effect," Journal of Scientific Exploration 10, no. 2 (1996): 185-243; Charles Platt, "What if cold fusion is real?," Wired Magazine, 6.11 (1998): 170-179 and 222-230.
34. On one notable occasion the American Physical Society decided to boycott the American Institute of Physic's Science Writing Awards luncheon honoring Jerry Bishop, a Wall Street Journal reporter, for his work on cold fusion. See letter from Robert Park to Steven Sester, 20 March 1990, Cornell Cold Fusion Archive, #4451, Box 9.
35. The term is appropriated from Thomas Gieryn, "Boundary-work and the demarcation of science from non-science: strains and interests in professional ideologies of scientists," American Sociological Review 48 (1983): 781-95, to refer to kinds of actors who self-consciously engage in boundary work. More well known boundary workers include Martin Gardner, the organization CSICOP and occasionally. Carl Sagan; John Huizenga, Cold Fusion: The Scientific Fiasco of the Century (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992)., p. 235.
36. The term is appropriated from Thomas Gieryn, "Boundary-work and the demarcation of science from non-science: strains and interests in professional ideologies of scientists," American Sociological Review 48 (1983): 781-95, to refer to kinds of actors who self-consciously engage in boundary work. More well known boundary workers include Martin Gardner, the organization CSICOP and occasionally. Carl Sagan; John Huizenga, Cold Fusion: The Scientific Fiasco of the Century (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992)., p. 235.
37. Bruce Lewenstein, "Cold fusion saga: Lesson in science," Forum for Applied Research and Public Policy 7, no. 4 (1992): 67-77, p. 72.
38. Joske Bunders and Richard Whitley, "Popularization within the sciences: The purposes and consequences of inter-specialist communication," in Shinn and Whitley, Expository Science (cit. n. 1), 61-78, on p. 63.
39. On this point see Leah Lievrouw, "Communication and the social representation of scientific knowledge," Critical Studies in Mass Communication 7 (1990): 1-10, on p. 7.
40. M. Fleischmann, S. Pons, and M. Hawkins, "Electrochemically induced nuclear fusion of deuterium," Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry 261 (1989): 301-308.
41. Interview with Martin Fleischmann (September 1999).
42. To make the story more complex, Fleischmann has intimated many times that he had tried to stop the press conference from occurring for "security" reasons. Fleischmann has always been worried about the military implications of cold fusion. Given the context of Fleischmann's cold war research career a certain degree of paranoia along these lines seems especially plausible.
43. Michael Cloître and Terry Shinn, "Expository practice: social, cognitive and epistemological linkage," in Shinn and Whitley, Expository Science (cit. n. 1), 31-60.
44. Bucchi, "When scientists turn to the public" (cit. n. 5), p. 15.
45. It has been common for critics to site early work on "hydrogen" absorption in metals by Fritz Paneth and Kurt Peters in 1926 as a precedent for the cold fusion claims, but there is no direct evidence that this work influenced Fleischmann and Pons' thinking. Fleischmann was influenced however by the work of Alfred Coehn on electrodiffusion and the behavior of protons in metals in 1930. See for example, C. Bartolomeo, M. Fleischmann, G. Larramono et al., "Alfred Coehn and after; The α, β, γ of the palladium-hydrogen system", Transactions of Fusion Technology, 26 (1994): 23-31.
46. Bucchi, "When scientists turn to the public" (cit. n. 5).
47. Tourney, "Conjuring science in the case of cold fusion" (cit. n. 9).
48. Ibid.
49. Gieryn, "The ballad of Pons and Fleischmann" (cit. n. 9).
50. Ibid.
51. An illustrative extension of this argument can be found in Dale Sullivan, "Exclusionary epideictic: NOVA's narrative excommunication of Fleischmann and Pons," Science, Technology and Human Values 19 (1994): 283-306.
52. For an analysis of the rhetoric of this meeting see Trevor Pinch, "Rhetoric and the cold fusion controversy: From the chemists' Woodstock to the physicists' Altamont," in Science, Reason, and Rhetoric, eds. Henry Krips, J. E. McGuire, and Trevor Melia (Pittsburgh, Pa.: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1995).
53. To be fair, Gieryn's most recent on cold fusion reframes his original argument in terms of spatial metaphors of boundary work. The rhetoric and not simply the experimental evidence of the scientists at the APS meeting are returning the practice of science to its "customary places and spaces." See Thomas Gieryn, Cultural Boundaries Of Science: Credibility On The Line (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999), 187.
54. H. M. Collins, "The seven sexes: A study in the sociology of a phenomenon, or the replication of an experiment in physics," Sociology 9 (1975): 205-224.
55. This is to say nothing of the many other researchers and theorists who had similar but perhaps a more coherent sense of what might be going on. Perhaps the Nobel Laureate Julian Schwinger mounted the most famous defense of cold fusion along these lines. See for instance, Julian Schwinger, "Cold fusion - does it have a future?," in Evolutionary Trends in the Physical Sciences, eds. M. Suzuki and R. Kubo (Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 1991), 171-175.
56. The issue of anomalous heat is important. A replication would only count as competent if the energy produced were greater than what could be accounted for in terms of normal chemical and/or mechanical reactions. This makes the issue of calorimetric method a crucial one for Fleischmann and Pons, an issue that is all but ignored by many would-be replicators who focused on other factors.
57. The precise relationships of heat energy to various nuclear by-products are given by the "branching ratios" for deuterium fusion reactions found in any textbook in nuclear physics. Even variations on these ratios should be easily calculated given the generally accepted theory.
58. In spite of James McAllister's argument that the controversy was in part motivated by disciplinary antagonism between chemists and physicists (see McAllister, "Competition among scientific disciplines in cold nuclear fusion research" [cit. n. 9]), cold fusion became attractive to a number of physicists (especially in Japan, Russia, and Italy). Moreover, the disciplinary distance separating Martin Fleischmann, a physical electrochemist, from solid-state physics is simply not as great as the distance between chemistry and physics proper.
59. Hoffman, A Dialogue on Chemically Induced Nuclear Effects (cit. n. 10), xiv.
60. I use the concept of "shared agreement" loosely here. There is a difficulty is deciding what counts as "sharing" and "agreeing" and how many participants in shared agreement count as enough to produce the end of a controversy. It may be enough, for instance, to silence one or two vocal dissenters, the rest of the participants may actually share nothing but the controversy ends anyway. For a discussion of the issue of measuring closure see Simon, "Undead science" (cit. no. 9).
61. After more than 10 years of case studies this argument still meets significant resistance, especially among normative philosophers of science. See Allan Franklin, "How to avoid the experimenter's regress," Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science 25, no. 3 (1994): 463-491; H. M. Collins, "A strong confirmation of the experimenters regress," Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 25, no. 3 (1994): 493-503.
62. After more than 10 years of case studies this argument still meets significant resistance, especially among normative philosophers of science. See Allan Franklin, "How to avoid the experimenter's regress," Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science 25, no. 3 (1994): 463-491; H. M. Collins, "A strong confirmation of the experimenters regress," Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 25, no. 3 (1994): 493-503.
63. The term "configuration" is meant to draw attention to the active construction of the phenomenon, "cold fusion," through practices of representation without implying an intentionality on the part of the authors of those representations. That is, a specific configuration may be an unintended consequence of a form of representation.
64. Lewenstein, "Cold fusion and hot history" (cit. n. 9); Lewenstein, "From fax to facts" (cit. n. 4).
65. Lewenstein, "Cold fusion and hot history" (cit. n. 9); Lewenstein, "From fax to facts" (cit. n. 4).
66. Ibid.
67. Ibid.
68. Ibid.
69. Ibid., p. 428.
70. John Law, "The heterogeneity of texts," in Mapping the Dynamics of Science and Technology, eds. Michel Callon, John Law, and Arie Rip (London: Macmillan, 1986), 68.
71. Michel Callon, "Some elements of a sociology of translation: Domestication of the scallops and the fishermen of St. Brieuc bay," in Power, Action and Belief, ed. J. Law (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1986), 203.
72. See for instance, Hans Peter Peters, "The interaction of journalists and scientific experts: Co-operation and conflict between two professional cultures," Media, Culture and Society 17 (1995): 31-48.
73. See Lewenstein, "Cold fusion saga: Lesson in science" (cit. n. 16); Lewenstein, "From fax to facts" (cit. n. 4). While electronic media like Internet discussion forums also played a role, mass media representations were the chief source of information.
74. See Lewenstein, "Cold fusion saga: Lesson in science" (cit. n. 16); Lewenstein, "From fax to facts" (cit. n. 4). While electronic media like Internet discussion forums also played a role, mass media representations were the chief source of information.
75. See interviews conducted by Bruce Lewenstein and Thomas Gieryn in the Cornell Cold Fusion Archive, #4451, Dept. of Manuscripts and University Archive, Cornell University Library.
76. Faxed preprints of a paper by Fleischmann and Pons were in wide circulation in the last week of March and the paper was published on April 10 (An errata followed in May). Fleischmann gave talks at Harwell (March 28), CERN (March 31) and a special cold fusion meeting in Erice, Italy (April 12). Pons gave talks at University of Utah (March 31), Indiana University at Bloomington (April 4), the American Chemical Society meeting (April 12) and Los Alamos National Laboratory (April 18).
77. Again, one can debate whether Fleischmann and Pons were being purposefully secretive, paranoid, or simply too busy. I am more interested in the social-epistemological consequences of their perceived lack of openness, whatever the specific causes may be.
78. I say "for a time" because post-closure cold fusion research also proceeds largely on the basis of non-standard forms of communication. In this case, e-mail listservs, newsletters, and other samizdat documents play an important role.
79. A brief methodological note is required here. This analysis is based primary on media reports during the first six weeks of the controversy, interview material in the Cornell Cold Fusion Archive, and my own interviews with cold fusion researchers during the period 1992-1996. In presenting this material, I am less concerned with representativity in the comments from researchers during the controversy than with demonstrating the ways in which some experimenters responded to and interacted with media texts in the early days of the controversy.
80. Interview with Michael McKubre at Stanford Research Institute (July 1994).
81. Interview with Charles Barnes conducted by Douglas Smith (15 May 1989), transcript on file in the Cornell Cold Fusion Archive, #4451.
82. Caltech chemist Michael Sailor quoted in Douglas Smith, "Quest for fusion," CalTech Engineering and Science, Summer (1989), 6.
83. Martin Moscovits, unpublished manuscript, 4.
84. Jerry Bishop and Ken Wells, "Taming H-bombs? Utah scientists claim breakthrough in quest for fusion energy," The Wall Street Journal (24 March 1989): A1.
85. In their technical paper, nuclear fusion is posited as a hypothetical explanation - a best guess. By the same token, the experiment is presented as being quite complex with long duration and high magnitude effects being the anomaly rather than the norm.
86. Martin Fleischmann in an interview. See Chris Tinsley, "An interview with Martin Fleischmann," Infinite Energy 13-14 (1997), 66
87. For a copy of the press release, see Huizenga, Cold Fusion (cit. n. 10), 237-39. For a detailed account of the press conference, see Gieryn, Cultural Boundaries Of Science (cit. n. 32), 187-203.
88. For a copy of the press release, see Huizenga, Cold Fusion (cit. n. 10), 237-39. For a detailed account of the press conference, see Gieryn, Cultural Boundaries Of Science (cit. n. 32), 187-203.
89. ABC news correspondent Jim Slade on 6:00 News, 23 March 1989.
90. Clive Cookson, "Test tube nuclear fusion claimed," London Financial Times (23 March 1989): A1, 28.
91. Charles Martin quoted in Taubes, Bad Science (cit. n. 10), 110.
92. Leah Lievrouw, "Communication and the social representation of scientific knowledge," Critical Studies in Mass Communication 7 (1990): 1-10.
93. Jerry Bishop, "Research in Utah to announce a development in fusion energy," The Wall Street Journal (23 March 1989): B1.
94. Other common terms included "cold nuclear fusion" and "test-tube fusion."
95. John Huizenga, for example, attempts to make this point in the introduction to his book. There is no doubt that the interpretations of the results being reported in the two sets of experiments were different from the perspectives of the authors, but this does not account for the ways in which the results were represented and interpreted by others.
96. T. J. Pinch, "Towards an analysis of scientific observation: The externality and evidential significance of observational reports in physics," Social Studies of Science 15 (1985): 3-36.
97. See Gieryn, Cultural Boundaries of Science (cit. n. 32), chapter 4 for an interpretation along these lines.
98. Interview with a nuclear physicist in Toronto (24 March 1996).
99. "Cold Fusion Research," Energy Research Advisory Board, Department of Energy/S0073 (November 1989), 3.